06-07-2024  8:16 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Ranked-Choice Voting Expert Grace Ramsey on What Portland Voters Can Expect in November

Ramsey has worked in several other states and cities to educate voters on new system of voting. 

Asylum-Seekers Looking for Shelter Set up Encampment in Seattle Suburb

Asylum-seekers mainly from Angola, Congo and Venezuela have set up an encampment in a Seattle suburb. Some of the camping asylum-seekers were told to leave their shelter at a church while others lost their short-term motel or rental housing when it expired June 1. A notice for the campers to leave by Tuesday afternoon expired with no law enforcement action.

School Board Selects Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong, Ed. D. to be Next Superintendent

Throughout her career, Armstrong has been instrumental in advancing student achievement, addressing racial inequities and closing the achievement gap for students of color through her dynamic approach to classroom innovation, curriculum enhancement and professional development.

As Pharmacies Shutter, Some Western States, Black and Latino Communities are Left Behind

Data shows urban neighborhoods that are majority Black and Latino have fewer pharmacies per capita than white majority neighborhoods. The AP's analysis also found Alaska, Oregon and New Mexico were among states with the fewest retail pharmacies per capita.

NEWS BRIEFS

Summer Events are Shining Through at Multnomah County Library

Start your June by honoring Juneteenth, celebrating Pride and playing the Summer Reading game. ...

PCCEP Forum on Brain Injuries, Policing and Public Safety

This event will feature speakers with lived experience of brain injuries and the criminal justice system, and policy professionals ...

Chaz Ebert Book Signing Event at Powell’s This Weekend

Ebert's new book explores The FECK Principles—a term Chaz coined—of Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness as four...

Portland Trail Blazers Tip-off Summer Series

The Trail Blazers participate in culturally diverse community events throughout the summer ...

Lineup and Schedule of Performances Announced for 44th Annual Cathedral Park Free Jazz Festival

The final lineup and schedule of performances has been announced for the free Cathedral Park Jazz...

James Beard finalists include an East African restaurant in Detroit and Seattle pho shops

CHICAGO (AP) — An East African eatery in Detroit, longtime family owned Seattle pho shops and a Palestinian chef using ancient cooking techniques in Washington, D.C., are among the dozens of finalists for this year’s prestigious James Beard Awards. The culinary world’s...

Hundreds of asylum-seekers are camped out near Seattle. There's a vacant motel next door

KENT, Wash. (AP) — Kabongo Kambila Ringo stood outside the tent where he has been staying with his pregnant wife and ate from a clear plastic tray of Girl Scout cookies melting in the midday sun. He was one of around 240 asylum-seekers camping in a grassy lot along a highway south...

Duke tops Missouri 4-3 in 9 innings to win first super regional, qualify for first WCWS

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — D'Auna Jennings led off the top of the ninth inning with a home run to end a scoreless pitching duel between Cassidy Curd and Missouri's Laurin Krings and 10th-seeded Duke held on for a wild 4-3 victory over the seventh-seeded Tigers on Sunday in the finale of the...

Mizzou uses combined 2-hitter to beat Duke 3-1 to force decisive game in Columbia Super Regional

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Laurin Krings and two relievers combined on a two-hitter and seventh-seeded Missouri forced a deciding game in the Columbia Super Regional with a 3-1 win over Duke on Saturday. The Tigers (48-17) had three-straight singles in the fourth inning, with Abby Hay...

OPINION

The Skanner News May 2024 Primary Endorsements

Read The Skanner News endorsements and vote today. Candidates for mayor and city council will appear on the November general election ballot. ...

Nation’s Growing Racial and Gender Wealth Gaps Need Policy Reform

Never-married Black women have 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by while males. ...

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

Op-Ed: Why MAGA Policies Are Detrimental to Black Communities

NNPA NEWSWIRE – MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. From restrictive voter ID laws to purging voter rolls to limiting early voting hours, these...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

A new account rekindles allegations that Trump disrespected Black people on 'The Apprentice'

Gene Folkes had just been jettisoned as a contestant on “The Apprentice” and was commiserating with a crew member at a bar inside the lobby of Trump Tower. He was indignant — and not just at having been kicked off the reality show after its star, Donald Trump, had delivered his catchphrase:...

Tim Scott, a potential Trump VP pick, launches a million outreach effort to minority voters

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top ally and potential running mate of former President Donald Trump is launching a new effort to win over Black and other nonwhite working class voters he argues could be the deciding factor in November's elections. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black...

Mississippi police officer loses job after telling man to 'go back to Mexico'

RICHLAND, Miss. (AP) — A white Mississippi police officer has lost his job after telling a Hispanic man to “go back to Mexico” while the officer was responding to a disturbance at a home. The officer resigned after he was "relieved of duty" for using “derogatory slurs,”...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Indigenous author explores charged issue of blood lines in his debut novel `Fire Exit’

Morgan Talty has followed up on the success of his prize-winning story collection “Night of the Living Rez” with a poignant first novel that explores the charged question of what constitutes identity — family or tribe? “Fire Exit” is narrated by a white man named Charles,...

Book Review: From Crichton and Patterson, ‘Eruption’ is poised to be seismic publishing event

You know you’ve got some juice in the publishing world when you get top billing on a book nearly 16 years after your death. “Eruption” is the completion of a partial manuscript found by the late Michael Crichton’s wife, Sherri, and finished by James Patterson. That pedigree is...

Music Review: Bon Jovi takes a victory lap, assessing a 40-year career on new album 'Forever'

Forty years after they ran away with our hearts and into rock history, Bon Jovi is back with a reflective new album taking stock of all the boys from New Jersey have accomplished. Perhaps the biggest news is that there's a new Bon Jovi album at all. After years of experiencing vocal...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Irish and Czech voters go to the polls on Day 2 of EU elections as the far right seeks more power

BRUSSELS (AP) — Voters in Ireland and the Czech Republic, two countries where immigration was a key issue on the...

US employers added a robust 272,000 jobs in May in a sign of sustained economic health

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a strong 272,000 jobs in May, accelerating from April and a sign...

A new account rekindles allegations that Trump disrespected Black people on 'The Apprentice'

Gene Folkes had just been jettisoned as a contestant on “The Apprentice” and was commiserating with a crew...

At D-Day ceremony, American veteran hugs Ukraine's Zelenskyy and calls him a savior

OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — An American veteran and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared an emotional...

Yemen's Houthi rebels detain at least 9 UN staffers and others in sudden crackdown, officials say

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — At least nine Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained...

South African opposition parties holding crunch talks on the ANC's unity plan. But deep rifts remain

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African opposition parties were meeting Friday and will continue crunch talks into...

Eddie Pells AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Feeling wronged again at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams couldn't let it go.

 "That's totally not cool," she shouted at the umpire. Then, a few minutes later, she told her, "You're a hater, and you're just unattractive inside."

Problem was, the real trouble for Williams was standing on the other side of the court.

Sam Stosur pushed the 13-time Grand Slam champion all over Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday and took what she wanted, along with what the umpire gave her, winning the U.S. Open in a result that was as surprising for who won as how lopsided it was.

The ninth-seeded Australian won her first Grand Slam title with a 6-2, 6-3 dismantling of No. 28 Williams, the three-time U.S. Open champion who hadn't lost a set en route to the final.

She lost two quick ones to Stosur. And, for the second time in three years, Williams did not leave Flushing Meadows quietly.

This time, the drama began when Williams, down a set and facing break point in the first game of the second, flushed a forehand deep to Stosur's backhand side and screamed out `C'mon!' - figuring she had hit a shot that Stosur wouldn't reach. But Stosur stretched out and got a racket on the ball and the umpire, Eva Asderaki, called Williams for a hindrance, awarding the point, and thus the game, to Stosur.

What followed was nowhere near as menacing as 2009, when Williams berated and brandished her racket at a referee who called a foot fault in her semifinal against Kim Clijsters.

But memorable nonetheless.

Williams went over to talk to Asderaki, saying, "I'm not giving her that game," then, "I promise you, that's not cool. That's totally not cool."

The fans, sitting on their hands as they watched an unexpected first-set flattening of the American, got riled up and so did Williams, breaking Stosur's serve on the next game, then holding her own serve for a 2-1 lead.

But on the next changeover, Williams took things up again with Asderaki and she made it personal.

"You're out of control," she said. "You're a hater, and you're just unattractive inside."

Then, a few moments later: "You're out of control." And, "Really, don't even look at me."

And as quickly as she had gained the momentum and the support of the crowd, they were gone, leaving Williams to explain and deflect - and wait to hear if there will be further consequences.

Asderaki issued a code violation warning for verbal abuse and the U.S. Tennis Association said officials would decide Monday whether Williams would be fined.

"I don't even remember what I said," Williams said. "It was just so intense out there. It's the final for me, and I was just ... I guess I'll see it on YouTube."

What she'll also see, if she watches long enough, is a rare example of a player who doesn't feel beaten before she even walks onto the court against Williams.

That's Stosur, a one-time doubles specialist, who has revamped her game over the past several years and moved her way into the top 10 in singles.

She became the first Australian woman to win a major championship since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980. Stosur received a text from the former player that read: "Twinkletoes, you finally have got what you deserved."

It's been building for a while, now. Stosur was the French Open runner-up last year, though maybe the most notable stat on her ledger coming into the final was her 2-4 record against Williams - not bad, all things considered.

"I knew I had to go out there and play well and actually do it," Stosur said. "But I think having those victories in the past, for sure, made me feel a little bit more comfortable."

Almost from the get-go on a cloudy day in Ashe Stadium, where Queen Latifah led an emotional rendition of the national anthem to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Stosur looked like the more comfortable player.

Williams sprayed groundstrokes long and wide, raising her hands in frustration, and also had trouble harnessing her powerful first serve, getting only 29 of 56 of them in.

Stosur, meanwhile, moved Williams from side to side and forced her into mistakes. The Aussie had 20 winners and 12 unforced errors - a virtually unbeatable combination - while Williams hit 19 winners against 25 unforced errors.

While Williams was dealing with the emotion of the call and the rift with the umpire, she was also wondering if Stosur, who joins Li Na and Petra Kvitova as first-time Grand Slam winners this year, would come down to earth.

"I thought, OK, at some point you could level out, because I know sometimes it happens," Williams said. "But I've played a couple Grand Slam finals where I never leveled out, so I definitely thought about it."

As was the case with Clijsters two years ago, Stosur was a confused bystander when Williams got into it with the referee.

But as was the case with Clijsters, Stosur didn't need any help. Even Williams agreed with that.

"I hit a winner but I guess it didn't count," she said when asked about the call in her on-court interview. "It wouldn't have mattered in the end. Sam played really well."

Williams, who made this run after missing the better part of a year with injuries stemming from the night last summer when she stepped on broken glass in a restaurant, has had her shining moments at the U.S. Open. She won in 1999, 2002 and 2008.

But she has an equal penchant for memorable losses.

In 2004, a poor call during her quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati was cited as a main reason for the introduction of replay technology in tennis. Then the Clijsters match. Now this.

"It's just always something," said Williams' mother, Oracene Price. "And it seems to happen to us."

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast